Hakusho Reaver Revised
by Neo-Blackheart
Summary: Taujecht has stolen, copied, modified, and used the shadow sword on team Yurameshi and turned them all into mutants. Now he's the number one target on Kurama hit list, even if it means going through his friends to do so!
1. The Beginning

Hakusho Reaver  
  
Chapter 1- The beginning  
  
I have had a lot of names in the past: my earliest being Youko. Back then, I was a thief, but I would later take the form of a human child. From that point, I was known as Suichi by my parents. Nowadays , However, a lot of my friends know me as Kurama.  
At first, I was reluctant to accept the fact I was being raised by human parents. But my father eventually passed away at an early age, and mother fell ill. I couldn't help but feel responsible for her sickness.  
That was when they showed up. Hiei and Gouki were their names. Gouki was a Kyukonki; a monster with rock solid purplish tan skin that was usually seven feet high. Hiei was a normal human upon first glance, but when you looked closer, you could see a third eye on him. Plus he had a second form that made his skin turn green, and made eyes appear on his chest and shoulders.  
Both of them made a proposal to me. The two of them were planning on breaking into King Yamma's vault to steal the artifacts of darkness. There were three artifacts. The orb of Baast could steal the souls of innocent people, the shadow sword (which would play a huge part in my future) could turn anyone and anything it cuts into demons, and the forlorn hope was a mirror that could grant the wish of anyone who looked into it on a full moon. The forlorn hope was the item I was looking for. I could use it to restore the health of my mother! Gouki only wanted the orb of Baus so he wouldn't have to tear humans apart in order to eat their souls. And Hiei got the shadow sword. He wanted to start an army of demons for conquest of the living realm.  
The rade was a success, but I wasn't interested in assisting Hiei in his game. At first, it would've appeared I'd get my lights knocked out, but then he stepped in. His name was Yusuke, or the great Yuromeshi as he'd later be called. His spirit energy wasn't very high, but a few days after we ended up meeting, I found out he managed to defeat Gouki! How he defeated a brutish creature like a kyukonki is a surprise in itself. But unlike the other two, I had no desire to fight. I simply wanted my wish, then I'd let him have the forlorn hope.  
Unfortunately, there was one sacrifice. In order for the forlorn hope to grant a wish, it would take the life of the one making the wish in order to fulfill it. I guess that's where the forlorn part came in. But somehow, with a little help from Yusuke, it granted my wish without taking my life.  
There was only one way I could think of to repay him. I assisted him in his battle against Hiei. Even in his demon form, Yusuke was still able to take him down by reflecting a blast of energy off of a mirror, and hitting Hiei in the back of the head with it. Of course, he had no clue his energy attacks could do such a thing. Here I thought he was a brilliant strategist, and it turned out he was just a lucky fool.  
  
Yusuke, Hiei, and myself, along with a girl named Botan, and a thug named Kuwabara, would then embark on many other different adventures. So many, in fact, I've already lost count how many we've had. In time, Kuwabara managed to gain possession of a spirit sword, Yusuke learned attacks much more powerful than the spirit gun, and lots of other stuff.  
Though we had quite a few adventures, I can still remember the last one we went through before it happened. Apparently, a demon by the name of Taujecht had found Hiei's attempt to use the artifacts of darkness as a form of inspiration. Unfortunately, he only wanted one. The shadow sword to be exact. At first, spirit world intelligence thought he'd use it to make the human race into an army of brain dead demons. However, instead of doing that, he used the shadow sword as a blueprint for his own version.  
This new sword was supposedly more powerful than the first. It could turn humans into mindless demons like the original, but it also had a few other abilities we would later discover.  
I, Hiei, and Kuwabara did battle with the ground monsters with our various abilities, Botan took care of the arial monsters, and Yusuke did battle with Taujecht. However, it got to the point where the monsters the demon had carved out were running low. I figured Kuwabara and Hiei could handle the remainder of the ground forces, so I went to help Yusuke.  
There he was: the thief known as Taujecht. His skin was sort of a pale green color that made him look as if he were undead. The crimson red eyes didn't help him look any more human either. He wore a blue tanktop and black sweat pants as his battle attire, but that particular fact made him look rather scronny. Plus his pointy ears made him look like a character I saw on the TV show "Star Trek". He didn't look like much of an opponent compared to most of the other demons we've had to face, but I'll never forget his face.  
I had shown up to help Yusuke, but I was apparently too late. For the instant I turned my attention to Taujecht, I sa him strike Yusuke with his sword! He wasn't killed, but he was definitely unable to stay conscious after that.  
"My my." Taujecht laughed. "Can it be? The great Yuromeshi? Defeated?"  
He didn't see me coming at first, and once he realized I was there, it was too late to do anything. I punched him in the jaw, and forced himb to fly backwards about ten feet, but he quickly somersaulted in mid flight, landed smoothly, and lunged at me. I avoided a strike from his sword, but unfortunately, Botan didn't.  
Either she wanted to help out, or she just so happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time by pure coincidence, it didn't matter. For she fell victom to his blade. Kuwabara and Hiei diverted their attention from the twin dog mutants they were beating the daylights out of, and saw this.  
"Yuromeshi!" Kuwabara shouted, and after a while added, "You jerk! I'LL KILL YOU!"  
I always knew Kuwabara wasn't very bright. The fact he ran head on into a strike from that sword of his proved it.  
So now it was just the two of us. Hiei and I. Hiei removed his cloak, exposing his bare upper half; then removed his bandanna to reveal his third eye. In an instant, he transformed into his demon form, and attempted to sike out his opponent with his amazing speed. Unfortunately, Taujecht was equally quick, and though it took a while, he still managed to strike Hiei at least seven times before he hit the ground.  
"Well now," Taujecht laughed, licking the blood stains from the blade of his sword. "Looks like you're the only one left. I'll give you a choice. I can either kill you, or kill you. What's that? You want me to choose?" He prepared for a strike. "SO BE IT!"  
I tried to avoid the cut of the sword, but I wasn't quick enough. I was cut right on the area where neck and shoulder met as the poisonous magic of the blade slowly began to take effect.  
  
"Yo, Kurama." A voice said. "Wake up!"  
I woke up, and saw Hiei in his demon form. Then I saw three other unfamiliar figures. One wore Kuwabara's blue jumpsuit, but looked like an orange kyukonki. One wore Yusuke's green jumpsuit, but had blue skin, and had facial characteristics of a bat. Red eyes, fangs, pointy ears (not as pointy as Taujecht, but pointy none the less), the works! And the last one wore Botan's outfit, but looked more like a combination of a vampire, and a skeleton with Botan's hair.  
What happened to you guys?" I asked.  
"You think WE look bad," the creature dressed like Kuwabara commented, "You should look at yourself."  
The skeleton like Botan handed me a mirror, and there I saw it. My skin was covered with blue fur, my head was like that of a fox rather than a human, and my eyes were now a brilliant yellow!  
"What happened to me?!" I demanded.  
"Come on," the bat like Yusuke said, "your wounds aren't THAT serious. Hell, you can hardly notice them."  
"The wounds don't bother me." I told him.  
"Then what's the big deal?" a familiar voice replied.  
Everyone looked to the left side of the room to see Taujecht standing in the doorway. He was now wearing a red cloak over the attire I had seen him wear priar to my curse, but that was the only difference. He was still the demon I saw from the battle.  
"Here I thought you'd be glad to see your friends after waking up from your coma." He said. "Those humans nailed you pretty good. You were out for months!"  
"Yeah man," Kuwabara replied, "We were this close to cutting you off."  
"Funny," I said, "I remember YOU were the one responsible for injuring me."  
Everyone seemed a little surprised, possibly even shaken by this comment. It was as if I had said something blasphemous about their god or something.  
"He must have some amnesia." Hiei commented.  
"Yeah really." Kuwabara commented. "Why would he think our leader would do something like that?"  
Anything I had planned on saying at that moment was taken away from me the instant those words were spoken. Taujecht? Our leader? I know Kuwabara's not the brightest penny in the fountain, but even HE knew better. Or did he?  
Then it hit me. The effects of Taujecht's sword not only transformed us into bizarre creatures, but it had mind control powers as well! But this still didn't make sense. If THEY were under his mind control, why wasn't I?  
""I can explain it." Taujecht said. "In our recent attack on the humans, I went for a sword strike. However, Kurama accidentally got in the way and I couldn't stop myself in time. Thus leaving him open to a strike from my sword. The humans would eventually take advantage, and they would've killed him if I didn't save him. But let us get to the matters currently at hand. Our next attack on humanity will be an important one, so I will need some assistance. Who would like to come along?"  
I instantly volunteered. The others objected, but Taujecht decided to let me come along.  
I didn't know what he was planning on doing with us, but it was most likely he was converting humans into various types of demons, and was brain washing them along with other demons that weren't willing to work with him. I wasn't sure if we were the only humans he had currently recruited, or if there were more humans turned demon and we were simply higher in rank. I was not yet certain, but I hoped to get some answers.  
  
It took a while, but we finally arrived at the spot Taujecht was looking for. No sooner did he arrive did he withdraw his sword, and begin examining trees.  
"Tell me," He said, "Which one do you think would be worthconverting?"  
"I don't know." I sighed. "They all look the same."  
"You know, you're not acting like you usually do. What's wrong?"  
It was then I could no longer take this. He thought he had converted all five of us, but he had only transformed me. Though we were all transformed, I still managed to keep my free will. And after seeing the way he was manipulating the others, I was far from willing to let him use me like a puppet in some sick little show.  
"Yusuke and the others may not be able to see past your illusion," I growled, "But I'm fortunate enough to know good from evil. And I know damn well you aren't the savior"  
He smiled as he went into a battle stance. "So, I see my curse didn't work on you." He laughed.  
"Curse?" I demanded.  
"Yes. This sword can turn humans and various other things into demons, and they still stay loyal to me after being cursed. Of course, there are differences. For one, most of the mutants maintain most of their intelligence, so they aren't total dimwits. However, you seem to be the first creation of mine that kept their free will, and I can't allow you to live any longer."  
He leaped upward, and held the sword over his head, ready to strike me down. But I too leaped upward, and with my left claw, I left a deep gash in his chest. He shrieked in pain, losing his grip on the sword in the process, and landed face down in the ground. He slowly stood up, and gave me a glare that could kill the mightiest warrior if looks could do such things. I leaped forward, and attempted a second slash. But he saw me coming, and moved out of the way. Sadly, I couldn't rebound in time, and landed on my side. This gave him more than enough time to power up for an attack.  
"Harrood niod siare don vergyn." He chanted, his energy increasing by the second as he did this. "Ine doe vardoss gondae wergon ONA DALA MOGA!"  
Instantly, he began to glow a bizarre green color as his shape began to distort. His arms and legs grew much wider with newly acquired muscles, his body became less scronny and more muscular than before, and he then grew an extra foot! When the glow faded, his tanktop had disappeared completely, his pants became shorts, and his skin was now red.!  
"Consider this a complement," he said. "I rarely have to shift to this form in battle."  
I stood up, and avoided a massive blow that would've most likely decapitated me! His new form's strength was much higher than before, but unfortunately, it took him a while to catch on to things. So while his back was turned, I leaped upward, and let my claws dig into his back once I landed! He shrieked in agony, but managed to get me off of him by slamming his back into a tree. I sagged to the ground as my claws involuntarily freed him.  
"You're pathetic." He laughed."Now then, allow me to show you the powers I've been keeping a secret for so long."  
He grabbed me by the throat, lifted me up, and flung me to the other side of the forest! But just before I hit the on coming tree, an invisible force yanked me right back in his general direction. There I saw him winding up for a punch, and preparing for an attack. I was too weak to try and counter, so I could only wait for the on coming attack.  
With a loud "BIG ARM BOMBER", he threw his punch at me, and in a painful explosion of green spirit energy, I was shot right back in the direction I was previously heading. This time, however, I slammed head on into the tree, and managed to knock it over! Slowly, but surely, I tried to stand, but I could only get to one knee. There, I saw him raise his hand, and let his sword float into it.  
"Now then," he said. "If the sword can't convert you, I guess it'll just have to KILL YOU!"  
He lunged forward with the sword over his head, and struck me with extreme force! So extreme in fact, he somehow managed to shatter the tip of the sword, and bury half of the shattered fragment of the blade into my flesh! I was in too much pain to notice his reaction, but I can just imagine how shocked he must've looked to see his sword had shattered.  
"Damn!" He exclaimed. "I guess I don't know my own strength."  
  
The rest was a blur, but I remember somewhere after that, I had been thrown in the river. Somehow, I managed to stay at the bottom, where my unconscious body would be paved over by mud and sea weed. I couldn't speak, I couldn't move, I could barely breathe! All I could do was look onward into the blurred above, wondering why I hadn't drowned yet. I could see, I could hear, but that was about it.  
I stayed like this for a while, but then something would come along, and save me. Unfortunately, my saving would later become a curse. A curse that I'll never forget. 


	2. Rebirth

Hakusho Reaver  
  
Chapter 2- Rebirth  
  
I had forgotten how long I was lying there; sealed under the ocean floor while hanging onto my life by something much thinner than any thread. But finally, something happened.  
By some mysterious force, I was ripped from the ground I was sealed in, and pulled out of the ocean! I looked up at who had saved me, and saw a woman. She was only three or four feet tall, but she looked like an adult. Her hair was a dark blue, and her dress was the same color.  
"Hey there." She greeted. "Pleased to meet you."  
If I had the ability to speak, I would've. But I didn't, so I couldn't. She seemed to understand.  
"Don't worry," She said. "I wasn't expecting a reply anyway. I might as well heal those wounds of yours. And judging by how much blood went into the river, you must've had the daylights kicked out of you."  
She rose her hands, and instantly, three items appeared. A sword similar to Taujecht's, a green orb the size of a baseball, and a mirror. I recognized all three right off the bat as the artifacts of darkness. She was obviously sent to the living realm for a reason, but why was she wielding these weapons. After the artifacts had appeared, they floated upward, and began to glow a bright purple. They then quickly began to murge together into a blob of purple light that looked absolutely impressive. Then finally, the blob molded itself into a ghostly figure with a sword for a left hand!  
"Don't worry." She said. "This won't hurt that bad."  
Instantly, the creature that had formed from the artifacts lunged at me, and disappeared once his glowing body made contact with my own. I could then feel my strength returning, and my wounds healing! Then finally, after a minute or two, I stood up, and looked around.  
"Where am I?" I asked.  
"My friend," the woman said. "You've been in a state of near death for over two thousand years. And in that time, Taujecht has terrorized this world. His ultimate goal was to have the world become property of demons. In his two thousand years, he's already claimed nine tenths of the planet. Regions of South America, and Australia have yet to see the terror that has ravaged this world."  
"And what, pray tell, do you want me to do about it?"  
"You seem to have a serious grudge against Taujecht, and you've come the closest to defeating him. I feel that reviving you, and combining you with the soul of the three artifacts of darkness is a good idea. For now you possess powers that not even Taujecht could ever imagine."  
"And what are these powers?" I demanded.  
"You'll learn soon enough. But first, you have to find your way out of this forest. And sadly, it's changed compared to it's original form from two thousand years ago. Some of the surviving humans now live in these woods in hiding, and won't comprehend your form. They'll try to kill you I'm afraid. If you still want to save humanity, I'd strongly advise you to keep the casualties at a minimum. Of course, a man's got to do what a man's got to do. Or so they've told me. I'm sure you'll figure out how your new powers work by then."  
With that she faded out of existence, leaving me here all alone in this new world with a new power I had no idea how to use.  
  
Hours had gone by, and I still hadn't found my way out of the woods! It really made me wish I had a compass or something.  
Just then.  
"DIE DEMON!" A voice shouted.  
I looked behind me, and saw a man with a blood stained sword heading right for me! I leaped upward, and landed in a tree top in an attempt to conceal myself. Unfortunately, he saw where I had jumped. For he began to climb the tree after me! So I jumped out of the tree, and made a run for it.  
Unfortunately, I didn't realize he had company. A quartet of sword wielding humans were standing in my way, and weren't about to move!  
"Get out of my way!" I shouted. "I'm not the enemy!"  
"All demons are the enemy." The leading man said.  
"But you don't understand!"  
"We understand just fine. It's you who doesn't seem to understand. Run now, or I'll make you into a ."  
At that moment, it was as if I had lost control of myself. For I let out a horrible shriek like roar, and quickly thrusted my hand forward. Just then, in a ten second cycle, I saw it begin to glow purple and mold into a blade of purple light! The humans backed up a few steps; obviously shocked, but otherwise ready to back down.  
"Get him!" The leader shouted.  
It was as if something else were in control of my mind at the moment. For even though I wanted to run, something inside told me to stay and fight. I leaped upward, avoiding the blows from their swords, then in mid air, lunged at their leader! He tried to get away, but I successfully tackled him, and pinned him to the ground. He begged for mercy, and I would've let him go, but unfortunately, something else was controlling me. For instead, I jammed the tip of my bladed arm into his chest, then after he had stopped squirming and gagging, I drew the blade to reveal a basketball sized sphere of blue light had been impaled upon it! Of course the sphere quickly became a baseball, then a golf ball, then a marble, then disappeared completely as if the blade had devoured it!  
"WHO ELSE WANTS SOME?!" I shouted.  
Apparently, everyone else wanted some. And just like their leader, I slaughtered them. Not in the exact same way, but each conflict ended with me jamming my blade into their chest, and removing these blue spheres of light that the blade devoured greedily.  
Once I caught my breath, I watched as the blade instantly faded out of existence.  
"My god." I thought, looking at my kills. "Did I just do that? What have I become?!" I then began running aimlessly through the forest, hoping not to run into anymore people.  
  
Luck was obviously on my side. For after I started running like crazy, I quickly found my way out of the forest. There I saw her. The Four foot high woman from before! She was just standing there looking at me as if she were glad to see me.  
"I see you've discovered your reaver." She said.  
"What have you done to me?!" I demanded. "I demand you tell me."  
"Or what? You'll take my soul like you did those men in the forest? My life is meaningless, and you gain nothing from killing me. Of course, you didn't really gain anything from killing those humans either, but you need not worry about them.. Your task is much more dangerous than any human. For you must take down Taujecht and his associates."  
"I'm not doing anything for a pint sized vixen such as you."  
"Fine. If you'd rather allow me to take back the soul of the artifacts, and leave you a nearly dead heap of flesh and bones, that's fine with me."  
I gave her an irritated glare. She was reminding me of a combination of Botan and Hiei right now. She had the girlish playful charm of Botan, but had a soulless manipulative personality like Hiei. Whether she was on my side or not. Well, she was on my side, but you'd easily be fooled.  
"I haven't known you for more than a few hours, and you're already annoying me." I muttered.  
"Ah, too bad. So I guess you're accepting your fate like a man-fox should. Allow me to explain your situation. The reaver is now your symbiotic weapon. It was divided into the three artifacts of darkness when King Yamma realized how dangerous the reaver was on it's own. The shadow sword was it's blade like hand that slayed victoms like cattle. The orb of baast was its hunger for souls manifested into a physical shape. The Forlorn Hope was nothing more than a prison to store the remains. When united, these three artifacts can reform the reaver, and whoever breaks the curse will be blessed with it's power! Sort of it's way of repaying you for freeing it. To use it, you must." "I know how to use the damn reaver. Now what do I have to do?"  
She began to float upward as she spoke as if trying to add emphasis on her words.  
"Your mission is a simple one." She said. "Taujecht has four associates. And in order to get to Taujecht, you must get your answers from them. I can only direct you this far before I have to return to the spirit world. Simply head east for a few miles, and you'll find the rock cowry where one of his many associates are currently hanging around."  
"Who are.?" I started, but then froze. "Oh my god. You don't mean."  
She nodded as she began to float upward, and fade out of existence.  
It became apparent to me now as I began to move east bound. In order to get to my enemy, I would have to kill the people I had once considered friends! 


	3. Kuwabara's Quory

Hakusho Reaver  
  
Chapter 3- Kuwabara's Cowry  
  
As I walked to my destination, I began to think. It took me five months to recover from the beating Taujecht gave me the first time we met, and the Earth, as far as I knew, was still in tact. Then I was defeated a second time, and this time, it took two thousand years to wake up. And this time, the Earth was in shambles! I had a feeling that if I were to be beaten a third time, there just might not be a world left for me to save!  
But I was pretty confident. This new reaver thing seemed to be pretty powerful. I just wish it had the ability to give me flight, or super speed, or some sort of method of quick transportation. This walking business was for the birds!  
No sooner did I think this, however, did I encounter some demons. Four human shaped six footers that looked like statues. Each rock beast had a set of wings, but no form of weaponry.  
  
(RAKONKI- A relative to the Kyukonki. It has no soul stealing abilities, and usually isn't a very bright creature, but it's brute strength makes up for everything else.  
  
"You there." One said.  
At first, I was panicked, but then.  
"Never mind brothers, he's one of us." He said.  
The monsters dropped their defenses and simply stood there looking at me in amazement.  
"Man-fox," the rock monster asked. "You gave us quite a shock. A lot of humans have been coming out of that forest with the will to destroy our leader."  
"Wait a minute." Another interrupted. "I smell something fishy about him."  
He lifted his arm, and removed a slip of paper from his arm pit. I don't know why he had it there, but something told me it was a bad thing. After he looked it over, he put it back, and gave his comrades a grim look.  
"It's him." he said. "The traitor Taujecht wanted dead if still alive!"  
"So you've heard of me." I said. I called forth the reaver, and prepared to do battle.  
All four charged at me, But I jumped to the right to avoid them all. Apparently, these rocks were dumber than. Uh. Rocks. Before they could realize what happened, I got behind one, and cut him in half lengthwise with the reaver! As his rock like body crumbled into gravel, a green sphere of light floated outward. I instinctively pointed the tip of the reaver at it, and instantly, the sphere was sucked into the reaver!  
"My god!" the leader shouted.  
"I don't know what that thing is," the one on his left commented, "But keep me away from it!"  
They started to make a run for it, But I wasn't about to let them leave. I leaped upward, and tackled the slowest of the trio. I now stood over him looking into his fearful eyes, and ready to drive the reaver into him.  
"Spare me!" He begged.  
"After what your kind have done to me?" I asked. But before he could reply, I jammed the reaver into his chest, and pulled it out along with his green sphere of a soul. "I don't think so."  
I let my symbiotic weapon finish its feeding, then chased after the remaining two: leaving their comrade to lie there and erode.  
  
I swear, for a couple of rocks, they could run like hell! It really made me wonder why they didn't just fly away, but either way, I wasn't about to give up. I kept on running, and I wasn't about to give up. And whatever had possessed me when I killed those humans was now motivating me to kill those damn rocks!  
Eventually we stopped at what would appear to be a pit. The two rock monsters leaped upward, and plummitted downward into the hole.  
"You think that's going to stop me?!" I shouted, leaping right after them.  
The landing was fairly smooth, but I wished I wouldn't have done that. For I found these two weren't the only monsters of their kind down here. I saw at least twenty or thirty of them standing there in random spots like statues. But judging by their red glowing eyes, they were far from statues.  
"What's going on?" A voice shouted.  
All the rock monsters instantly moved out of the way as a six foot six figure made its presence felt. His skin looked like that of the rock monsters, but it was orange rather than gray. He only wore a pair of blue sweat pants, and had a red mullet for a hair doo.  
"Kuwabara." I said. "We meet again."  
"Well, if it isn't the traitor." Kuwabara said. "I can't believe you decided to backstab us all those years ago."  
"I know you aren't that intelligent, but even you should've been smart enough to know better than to join Taujecht."  
"Talk talk talk, that's all you ever do. I'm going to beat you so badly even kittens won't look at you!"  
"I'm not interested in a fight with you. Where's."  
Before I could finish, he nailed me with a punch to the face! I was knocked flat on my back, and hurting pretty badly. The pain, however, only fueled my desire to fight even further as I called forth my reaver! This act alone seemed to shake Kuwabara a little. I tried four or five different attempts to tackle him, or at least swing at him, and he avoided each and every one of them.  
"I see you got one too." He laughed, making a fist and focussing his spirit energy into it. "Well two can play at this game."  
His spirit sword then came into existence, and the battle continued from there. I took swings at him, and he blocked with his spirit sword. He took swings at me which I either avoided completely, or blocked with my reaver. This went on for a while until finally, we clashed blades, and simply tried to see who could out muscle the other. You'd think that would be no contest if you took a good look at Kuwabara, but those souls that I had recently taken were actually boosting my strength to match his!  
"I'd ask why you don't listen to reason," I said, "But I remember you're the stupid one. There's really no point in convincing you of anything."  
"What?" He shouted, his strength suddenly increasing, but not enough to take me off balance. "I'll show you, you stupid."  
He let out a roar as our blades tore away from one another. He tried to decapitate me right then and there, but I ducked, went behind him, and waited for him to turn around. Sure, I could've killed him right then and there, but for some reason, I wanted to play with him a little more.  
Once he turned around, I struck him down with the reaver; leaving a gash across his bare chest, but keeping him alive.  
"You dirty punk!" He screamed. "I'll KILL YOU!"  
"A little backwards, aren't we?" I replied, ready to jam the tip of my reaver into his heart.  
But he instantly sat up, and smacked me once again with that fist of his; this time nailing me right in the chest! I fell flat on my back, but quickly somersaulted back to my feet, and ducked a clothesline from my opponent.  
"Hold still!" He shouted.  
I attempted to strike him once again, but I had apparently forgotten about his spirit sword. For he instantly turned around, and our blades clashed once again. We continued to sword fight till both of us were out of breath, and barely able to stand.  
"For someone who's been sleeping with the fishes for this long," Kuwabara laughed, "You're still pretty strong."  
"And for someone who doesn't have much activity going on upstairs," I replied, "You've still managed to match me move for move."  
"Oh, but the fun's only beginning. You see, two millenniums have given me time to learn some new abilities. Don't know what I'm talking about?" He backed up a couple of steps, and let his spirit sword fade out. "Then watch this!"  
He crossed his arms over his chest, and began to consentrate. Then, he threw his arms out, spreading them as wide as he could. Instantly, he grew an extra two feet, and his skin became more of a greenish brown color! His body became that much more muscular, and it was a wonder how his attire managed to survive the transformation. Of course, the lack of a shirt made me then realize he must've done this technique once before.  
When his transformation was complete, not only was he twice as big as usual, and just as buff, but the gash I had made on his chest had faded out of existence. As I looked around, I could see streams of green energy leaving the bodies of our audience of rock monsters, and entering his body. He was somehow using THEIR energy to mend his body, and transform it into whatever he had now become.  
  
(HinKONKI- a close relative to the Kyukonki. The strength of these beasts is unbelievable, and can be increased even further with the assistance of souls from nearby rakonki.)  
  
How do you like me now?!" Kuwabara laughed, his voice now much deeper then it was before. Obviously a minor side effect of the transformation.  
"You look even uglier, if it's possible." I replied. "And amping up like that's only going to make your soul that much more enjoyable for the reaver to devour!"  
I lunged at this new beast, but that was probably not a very good idea. For he smacked me with his large hand as if swatting away a fly! I flew all the way into the nearest wall of this pit, and sagged down to the floor. Slowly, but surely, I stood back up, and made sure the reaver was still in tact.  
That was when I noticed something. There were two of these monsters standing on each side of me. They simply stood there like statues, but judging by the glow in their eyes, they still had souls! Souls I could easily take, and increase my own strength with. I impaled them both; the one on the left going first, then the right. The reaver greedily devoured their souls as I felt my strength increasing.  
"WHAH?!" Kuwabara exclaimed in shock.  
"You're not the only one who can steal souls." I shouted as I lunged at him again. I noticed I was moving much faster than before; not giving Kuwabara enough time to comprehend what I had just done, and to defend himself in the process.  
When I was close enough, I swung, and left a deep cut in Kuwabara's rock like flesh. The force of the blow caused him to lose his balance, and fall flat on his back. He was so big now, I could stand on his chest, and not lose my balance.  
"Now then," I said, "I'm not going to ask again. WHERE'S TAUJECHT?!"  
"I pleed the fifth." He muttered.  
"Wrong answer."  
I jammed the blade of the reaver into his chest, and heard his horrible roar of agony echo through the pit. He struggled, and tried to get me off of him, but it was useless. Within a few seconds, he slowed down, and eventually gave up completely. He now lay on the ground motionless, so I withdrew the reaver and saw a rather large orange sphere of a soul on the blade. It took longer for the reaver to devour this new soul, seeing as how it was much larger than the others, but it eventually engulfed the entire thing.  
Once the reaver faded, I looked at my dead opponent. God, what have I done, I thought. Sure, I didn't mind having to kill Kuwabara. He was the dumber of our little quintet after all. But we were still friends. And I killed him in cold blood.  
"Well done." A familiar figure said.  
I turned around, and saw her. The four foot woman from earlier.  
"I thought you gave me all the instructions I needed." I growled angrily.  
"Yes, but apparently, you need a little help." She said. "Those dead Rakonki are blocking the way. You can take souls, but I doubt you can move rocks."  
She rose a hand, and instantly, most of the dead rock monsters moved out of the way; revealing something I didn't see earlier. There was a hidden tunnel built into the wall of this pit.  
"There." She said. "Now keep going. Lug-head wasn't much help, but the other three might know."  
She faded out of existence.  
There's something about her I just didn't trust. She was so cheerful, but yet had a more morbid ora surrounding her. What was her deal?  
I didn't have time to think of a reason for why she was so god damn weird. I decided to move on using the tunnel I now had access to. God only knew what I was about to face next, but one thing was for sure. I would need a miracle to live with the guilt I was already feeling; let alone the guilt that I would feel after I slaughtered the others. 


	4. Botan's Obsession

Hakusho Reaver  
  
Chapter 4- Botan's obsession  
  
I continued down the dark tunnel, using my reaver as a flashlight. It wasn't much, but it was all I had.  
"I swear," I muttered. "Taujecht is so going to pay for."  
Before I could finish, a loud crack interrupted my train of thought. I backed up a couple steps, and shined the light of my reaver on what I had stepped on. It was a corpse; skinned of all of it's flesh, and lying on the ground in a pool of it's own blood. Of course the blood had dried out by now, so it was more like dry paint now.  
"Oh god, that's brutal!" I shouted upon discovering the body. "What could've. Wait a minute."  
I shined the light of the reaver upon the walls, and saw a few more dead bodies on the wall. All stripped of their skin, some were still fresh, some were fairly old.  
"Obviously, this is some sort of underground cemetery." I said to myself. "Either that, or."  
Just then, I heard a blood curdling scream! I made a run in the direction where I heard the screaming, leaping over corpses on the floor as I did so.  
At the end of the tunnel, I started to se a faint red light. The reaver no longer needed to be used as a flashlight, for now I could se where I was going. However, once I saw what was going on, I kept it out anyway. I saw a human woman being dragged into the mouth of a nearby cave. This wasn't as disturbing, but what dragged her in there was.  
They looked like humans, but had red afro like hair. Their skin looked decayed and green, and their clothing looked rather tattered. They moved at a fairly slow pace as they drug their victom into what I judged was their hide out.  
  
(CULTIVATED HUMANS- The lowest form of demon. Though they can take one hell of a beating, they have little strength, little intelligence, next to no speed, and often travel in groups. Though not much of a challenge even in hords, they are often used as servants.)  
  
"Cultivated humans." I thought, realizing instantly what these new demons were. Back in the good old days when Hiei, Kuwabara, Yusuke, and myself were still human, we encountered these creatures before. They were pretty easy to beat compared to the monsters that midget girl called rakonki.  
I prepared for a fight, but froze once I heard a series of rattles and moans. I looked behind me, and could see that the corpses from back in the darker part of the tunnel had come to life! Whether these were cultivated humans or just your average zombie, I didn't care. Either way, they'd be against me. So I got ready for what would be a pretty one sided battle between me and a bunch of skeletons.  
One by one, each one fell. Limbs were severed, decapitations occurred, and lots of other really disgusting stuff occurred. I was just thankful they were already dead on this occasion. Something told me these things used to be human, but I couldn't help but wonder what transformed them into these skeletal versions of what would appear to be cultivated humans.  
Once I had completed my warm up exercise, I looked back, and saw the woman and the two cultivated humans were gone. But I wasn't about to run. After all, it was a tunnel. How could you lose anyone in a tunnel? There weren't any forks in the road from what I could tell, even though there WAS a turn here and there.  
  
The tunnel ended at the mouth of the cave I mentioned earlier. Though much much wider, it was still rather tunnel like in here. And I could see more dead bodies lying on the ground!  
"Oh, whoever did this is so going to pay." I muttered. "About one cut per corpse should do the trick. And let's see here. One, two, five, ten, twenty."  
"Count all you like." A familiar voice echoed. "You'll never be able to count how many are down here."  
I turned around, and saw what appeared to be a zombie! She only had a few strands of black hair left, and her skin was decaying all over the place. However, her orange eyes managed to stay in tact. She looked more like a zombie than a cultivated human, seeing as how she knew how to speak.  
"Botan I presume." I said.  
"In the flesh." She laughed, putting a decayed hand to her decaying face, and ripping it off. "But not for long.! You're just in time."  
She snapped her fingers, and the two cultivated humans from earlier drug out the woman I saw from before. Except she looked more flattened: more two dimensional than before. Then, I put two and two together instantly. The skeletons in the tunnel, Botan's new found skin, the woman who now seemed to lack a three dimensional shape.  
"You monster!" I shouted.  
"Come now," she said. "Name calling will get you nowhere."  
She crossed her arms over her chest, and instantly ripped the decaying flesh off of her body! The rest of her skin fell to the ground in a bundle as she continued to shed her skin in such a matter that looked like a combination of stripping and mutilating. Once the flesh was completely off of her, I could see her vampiric skeleton form. She put one arm over her ribs, and another over the area where hip and thigh bones connected.  
"Ooh, silly me." She laughed as if she were embarrassed. "I forgot I had company. I really shouldn't be exposing myself like this. Really, we haven't even had a date!"  
The cultivated humans dropped the skin of the woman I intended on rescuing, and I watched in what would be considered a combination of amazement and horror as the skeleton like Botan stuffed her foot in the corpse's mouth. She continued to shove more and more of herself into the lifeless outer shell of the woman until it became a perfect fit.  
She stood up, stretched out, and let her fingers trace little patterns across her new skin.  
"Perfect fit." She laughed. "And it's so smooth and luxurious. I just wish it didn't have to decay in a couple weeks or so, then I'd never have to shed it again."  
I made a lunge for her, but one of her cultivated humans leaped in front of her, and took the perverbial bullet. Botan laughed as I jammed the reaver into his heart, and withdrew a marble sized scarlet sphere of a soul. This figured. Cultivated humans didn't have a brain, didn't have strength, and apparently didn't have much soul in them either.  
"Ooh, big bad Kurama's going to cut me into pieces." She mocked, then burst out laughing. "Good thing I have these guys."  
She threw her hands up in the air, and I could only watch as they began to omit vapor like beams of spirit energy that went in every which way. Once a vapor stream hit the ground, it began to crack open, and a new cultivated human rose from the newly formed hole. Till finally, an entire army had appeared on the battlefield of choice!  
"I'll be in the Jacuzzi." She told her servants. "Take care of him while I'm gone. And if I find out he's still here when I'm done, you're all in for it."  
She began to float upward, and fade out of existence.  
It became oh so clear to me now. Botan was skinning innocent women, and using them to hide her hideous vampiric skeleton form. Meanwhile, she used some sort of magic on the men to turn them into cultivated humans. I don't know when Botan became embarrassed about her true form, but it was obviously an obsession now. Those skeletons, for all I knew, were probably cultivated as well for security purposes.  
It would appear the only way out would be to fight. Not like I really wanted to, but cultivated humans just can't be reasoned with! It was almost too easy to kill all of them, and their marble sized souls didn't provide me with any extra strength. But somehow, I managed to kill all of them, and leave the floor littered with dead bodies!  
Now then, I thought as I let the reaver fade out of existence, If I was Botan, where would I be going right about now?  
At that moment, I noticed something. There was a doorway on the far left. It was sealed shut, so I'd have to use the reaver to cut it open, but I garanteed Botan was either in there, or this doorway led to a tunnel of some sort leading to her.  
  
Sure enough, Botan was behind this door. I looked closely, and could see her wearing only a black Bikini, and reclining in what appeared to be a Jacuzzi. Apparently, she didn't take very many things seriously. And apparently, the value of her life seemed to be one of them.  
"You're just wanting to die, aren't you?" I said, walking over to the side of the Jacuzzi.  
Those words apparently woke her up. For she looked over to her right, freaked out, then stood up.  
"You have quite a lot of nerve!" She insisted. "Bursting in here during my me time."  
"What happened to you?" I asked disappointedly. "You used to be such a fun loving girl who knew just about everything about life in the spirit world. Now look at you. You use dead people's skin to hide your own hideous form. From what I can tell, you just stay here in this red cave of yours; waiting for innocent humans to wander down here. Or maybe your cultivated humans bring them down to you."  
"SHUT UP!" She shouted, taking a swing at me. I avoided it, and let my reaver fade for now.  
"If you really want to fight me, come out of there, and face me demon to demon!"  
She leaped upward, and landed a foot away from the doorway I had made. She gave me an ice cold glare as she began to power up for what would appear to be an energy attack.  
"You'll wish you never said such things about me!" She shouted. "Let's see how you like to be CULTIVATED!"  
She threw her hands forward, and vapor like beams of blue spirit energy quickly shot from them. They tangled me up, and tried to electricute me, but for some reason, they weren't working! Not like that's a bad thing, but apparently, she did something wrong. Or something else made it impossible for me to become cultivated.  
She allowed the vapors to return to her hands as a shocked look went across her face.  
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" She demanded. "CULTIVATE ALREADY!"  
"Sorry," I said. "But I'm afraid your magic doesn't work on me."  
For some reason, she then laughed as she began to consentrate more spirit energy into her hands. I could see them glowing, and then morphing into some sort of weapon. The glow faded on her hands, but not on her fingers; which had now become foot long blades of spirit energy!  
"In that case," She said, "How about I show you how I USED to skin humans before I learned cultivation. It gets a little messy, and a few stitches end up needing to be applied, but either way, I could use a fur coat right about now!"  
She lunged forward at me and attempted to strike me. I moved out of the way, allowed my reaver to reappear, and waited for her to attack. Sure enough, she lunged at me again. So I struck her down with one cut across her chest.  
She backed up a couple steps, and placed a hand across her chest in agony. But when she removed her arm from around herself, the skin from her belly downward fell down to her ankles. She looked down, and screamed once she had seen what I done. At the same time, she attempted to cover herself.  
"MY SKIN!" she shouted.  
I watched as she ripped her face off, and removed her new skin in the same manner she shed the old skin. Before anything else could happen, I could sense her energy increasing as the energy blades of her spirit claws grow an extra four inches.  
"Looks like I'll have to find another woman." She said. "But in the meantime, I'LL SKIN YOU!"  
She leaped upward, only to end up getting impaled through the chest on my reaver. The spirit claw quickly faded as her life slowly drained from her body, and into my blade like arm. Once the feeding was complete, I pointed the tip of the reaver at the ground, and let her corpse slide off of it onto the ground. I let my symbiotic weapon fade as I looked at her.  
""Believe me," I said, even though I wasn't going to get a reply, "That hurt me a lot more than it hurt you. Hopefully now, you can rest in peace."  
I left this room, and stood there; looking at the bodies of the cultivated humans. If I hadn't taken their souls, they would've returned to normal by now. But it was too late. Worst of all, I never got the chance to ask Botan if she knew where Taujecht was.  
It would appear I'd have to ask either Hiei or Yusuke, depending on which one I met next. But first thing was first. Before my quest could continue, I had to find a way out of here. And judging by the looks of this place, that was easier said than done. God, I wish I had a map. 


	5. A Battle with the Great Yurameshi

Hakusho Reaver  
  
Chapter 5- A Battle With the Great Yuromeshi  
  
"Let's see." I said, trying to figure my way out of this cave full of dead bodies. "I came through that tunnel, and came in here. It's pretty much a dead end here, so. Uh. DAMN IT! Perhaps I got to get out of this place entirely, and."  
"For someone who fights as well as you do," A familiar voice echoed, "You really have no idea what you're doing."  
I looked behind me and saw her once again. This mysterious four foot high woman who just wouldn't leave me alone!  
"Looks like you need my help once again." She commented. "See that wall over there?"  
"Yeah yeah, I see it." I said with a sigh.  
"Take the reaver, and make a door."  
"And how, pray tell, do I make a door with a reaver?"  
"How do you think, stupid? YOU CUT IT OUT OF THE WALL!"  
She floated upward, and faded out of existence.  
Well why not, I thought. Can't be any worse than waching Botan shed her skin.  
I called forth the reaver, and buried it into the wall. I made a very wide diagonal incision through the wall, then another, then one more. Chunks of wall fell apart, leaving a doorway into another tunnel! I had a feeling I'd find something down here, so I decided to give it a look over. The only other thing on my mind now was that strange woman. Why was she helping me, and why was she being such a bitch about it?  
  
As I walked down the tunnel, using the reaver as a flashlight once again, I could see that this tunnel didn't have anything in it. No dead bodies, no cultivated humans, NOTHING! That was good. It gave my battered and bruised body time to heal. Botan wasn't really much of a challenge, but Kuwabara. Man, I still ached from our encounter.  
"I wonder who could be down here?" I asked myself.  
No sooner did I ask that did I feel the presence of something behind me! But when I turned around, no one was there!  
"Strange." I thought.  
Just then, I felt that presence show up behind me again! And just like last time, I turned around, and there was nothing there.  
"Whoever's down here," I shouted as I went into a battle stance, "SHOW YOURSELF!"  
Nothing.  
"Cowards." I said after about a minute of waiting. I proceeded down the tunnel in hopes of finding something at the end. So far, things weren't looking very good. Worst of all, I still felt the presence of something behind me.  
  
After what felt like hours (even though it was probably minutes), I arrived in what would appear to be another cave. Much like the one I met Botan in, but this one had more of a blue light to it. Not only that, but the light wasn't bright enough. The reaver still had to be used as a flashlight.  
The weirdest thing of all was that there was a cocoon hanging on the ceiling! There were also some pretty small cocoons on the floor too. They were about the size of the four foot woman, give or take an extra inch on some of them.  
"I sure hope there aren't any dead bodies in these cocoons." I said.  
Ironically, the instant I said that was the instant a couple of them started to shake! I backed up a few steps, and watched in amazement as the cocoons began to split open! One by one, each cocoon opened, revealing a demon inside.  
In this dark light, they were pitch black with red eyes. Some of the taller ones (which wasn't really saying much) had wings, but they all had little six inch long claws. Their faces had the characteristics of a bat, and each one seemed to shriek just like a bat would.  
  
(NOCTEREIN- A demon with incredible speed, agility, and an amazingly fast recovery rate. Unfortunately, they aren't very strong, and are vulnerable at daylight. Therefore, they attack at night, or in really dark areas such as caves.)  
  
"Strange," I commented, "I could've sworn bats didn't live in cocoons."  
With that, the leading creature let out a high pitched shriek that echoed through the entire cave! The others accompanied him in a matter of seconds. With that, the leader lunged at me! The others accompanied him one by one.  
Some mutants, I just cut up. I avoided some, and others, I stole the rather dark blue souls of. I had hacked more than I stole souls from, but either way, I felt much stronger afterward.  
But my battle was only beginning. For some of the creatures, I had only left cuts on, and others, I had chopped into pieces. Somehow, the creatures with gashes stood up, and made me witness their amazing healing powers. Their cuts quickly healed, and they returned to normal! The ones that were hacked into pieces began to glow. Their chunks floated upward and began to increase in size, and remold themselves. When the glow had faded, there were new creatures; one creature per chunk!  
"Let round 2 begin!" I shouted as they started to lunge at me.  
"HOLD EVERYTHING!" A familiar voice shouted.  
The creatures froze dead in their tracks, looked at the cocoon hanging from the ceiling, and bowed for some bizarre reason. Just then, it split open, and a familiar figure fell from it. It looked like he would land head first, but a quick flip would prove me wrong. After a perfect three point landing, the creature stood up, and revealed himself.  
He looked like his fellow creatures, except he was more my size, and wore green sweat pants and a green headband. He had no hair what so ever, and had wings much bigger than those of his comrades.  
"Who dares to disturb the slumber of the great Yuromeshi?!" He demanded.  
"Ah, Yusuke." I greeted. "I see male pattern baldness claimed another victom."  
"Hey Kurama, you're still alive. I figured you'd stay dead after Taujecht bitch slapped you silly, but I guess that's what I get for thinking."  
I had a feeling Yusuke would be one of the harder opponents. Kuwabara only knew of the spirit sword, and Botan didn't seem to have much of an attack capability. But Yusuke was a different story. He had quite a few different attacks he could use . And he probably learned more over the past two millenniums; not to mention improving the ones he already knew.  
"Guys," Yusuke ordered, "Take five. I'll handle him." One gave him a series of shrieks. "Don't tell me how to fight you little bitch, JUST GET LOST!"  
The creatures instantly disappeared. Whether they vanished, or just moved really quickly, I wasn't sure. But one thing was for sure, it was now just Yusuke and myself now.  
"Yusuke old friend," I said, letting the reaver fade for now, "We can do this two ways. You can tell me where to find Taujecht, and I'll leave. Or I can just beat the answer out of you!"  
"It's a shame you woke me up." Yusuke said, lunging forward. "Sleep depravation makes me a real JERK!"  
I ducked the punch, avoided another one, but couldn't avoid the third. I then received a five punch combo that threw me against the wall of the cave after the last punch. But somehow, I quickly stood up, and seemed unaffected! I didn't know how that was possible (though I had a theory), but right now, I was more concerned with the battle.  
I called forth my symbiotic weapon, and lunged at Yusuke. BAD IDEA! For he pointed his index finger at me, powered up, and with a loud "SPIRIT GUN," he launched a beam of blue light, and knocked me right back to where I ended up last time.  
"Two thousand years doesn't seem to do wonders for the memory, does it?" he laughed. "My most basic attack that once took everything I had out of me is now child's play compared to the abilities I've mastered over the years. And allow me to show another one."  
He rose his hand upward, and a mass of blue light began to form around it. At first it was shaped like his hand, but it quickly morphed into a basketball sized sphere. I recognized this attack from one of our previous adventures, but Yusuke wasn't the one who used it!  
"Prepare to die once again my friend." Yusuke laughed. "PRISOM OF TORMENT!"  
He threw the sphere at me, but I avoided it. I had to run as fast as I could, for this attack could reflect off walls, and follow me till the second coming of Christ. Until it hit it's target, it would still exist. But then, I had an idea. I stopped, prepared the reaver, and once the prisom got close enough, I struck it! It exploded in a huge burst of blue light, and eventually faded away. Not the result I was looking for, but it could've been worse.  
"You can handle one, it would seem," Yusuke laughed, preparing not one, but two more prisoms in his hands. "But can you handle two?"  
He flung both of them at me instantly. I destroyed the first one easily, but the second one hit me in the side! It disappeared on contact, but from there, I felt like I was being electrocuted from the inside out! And as I stood there, shouting in pain, unable to move, I could see him pointing all of his fingers at me.  
"SHOTGUN!" He shouted.  
Instantly, a beam of light twice the size and power of the spirit gun fired from his hand, and added on to the pain I was feeling. I was forced against the wall, barely able to move, and aching all over. Yusuke simply laughed as he spread his arms and wings out as wide as he could. I could see him starting to glow blue with his own spirit energy, which really wasn't a good sign.  
"What's the matter Kurama?" He laughed. "Not used to fighting someone stronger than you? Don't worry. I'll end your miserable life quickly!"  
He pointed all of his fingers on both hands at me as the glow that surrounded him began to increase around his hands, and fade from the rest of him. With a loud "GATLING GUN", beam after beam of spirit energy shot from his hands. A few missed me, but every other beam hit me right on target!  
Once he had exhausted himself from this attack, he wiped the sweat from his forehead, and sighed.  
"That attack always takes a lot out of me." He commented. "But I bet it took a lot more out of. WHAT THE?!"  
He backed away in horror as I stood up, and got ready to fight. I don't know how, but somehow, I was able to heal my wounds quickly! I couldn't explain it, but At the moment, all I could think of was pummeling Yusuke into the wall.  
"Very well." I said. "If you'd prefer we do this the hard way.!"  
"GET BACK ON THE GROUND! That attack was too powerful for you to be standing!"  
I lunged at him at a much faster rate than usual, but he moved out of the way. From there, we exchanged various punches. This went on until I swung with my blade like arm, and hacked off his arm! He shouted in pain, backed away from me before I could jam the blade into his chest, and clutched the nub that was the remainder of his arm.  
"There!" I said. "Now then, if you tell me where Taujecht is, I'll spare you the agony of having to lose more than."  
"You just don't get it, do you?" He laughed, letting go of the nub.  
I watched instantly as a new arm shot forth, and replaced it's severed counterpart. Instantly, the severed arm began to glow a bright blue as it molded itself into a copy of Yusuke. When the glow faded, I now had to deal with TWO OF THEM!  
"You can sever my limbs, chop me into pieces, do what you like!" Yusuke laughed.  
"But everytime you do that," his twin added, "Another one of us shows up!"  
"In other words, severing limbs only gives YOU the advantage." I said. "Thought I'd never hear those words in the same sentence."  
At this point, I forgot which was the original, and which was the copy. But I figured if I killed them both, it wouldn't matter. I lunged at one of them, ready to impale them seeing as how cutting them wouldn't really work, but the other jumped in, punched me in the face, and fired his spirit gun at me! I was on the ground for only a second before getting up. At that moment, I saw both of them prepairing for not two, but four prisoms of torment.  
"If you thought one was bad." one said.  
"Then just imagine what four will be like!" The other added.  
With that, they threw the prisoms. I Destroyed one, but the other three made contact, and began to fry me from the inside. This time, it felt three times as bad!  
"That's right." The first one said. "Die slowly, and painfully. Those have always been the entertaining ways to die."  
"It was a good thing we learned when we did." The second added. "It's so much fun to watch you struggle, and try to fight."  
I could feel myself starting to slip. The prisoms were starting to take there effect, and it didn't look like either of them would show mercy for me.  
"Tell you what." The first laughed. "Since you came all this way, I think I'll tell you where Taujecht is anyway."  
"You were on the right track." The second added. "There's another tunnel around here. That tunnel leads to the Junghai chamber. Taujecht has been down there for centuries, commanding his hords of demons without having to so much as move a finger."  
"Not like this info's of any use to you."  
"Yeah. You'll be dead in a matter of."  
Finally, I could take no more. Their voices, for some reason, were exceptionally annoying at this time. I felt the rage in me building as the pain from the three prisoms started to become my own power! Both Yusukes fell silent and watched as I began to glow the color of my reaver.  
"What in the hell?!" the first one shouted.  
"But that's impossible!" The second shouted.  
I held my hand upward, and instantly, a prisom of torment formed in my own hand! I wasn't sure how I did it, or if I myself actually did it for that matter. But I had the perfect opportunity, and I wasn't going to let it go to waste. I flung the prisom, and watched as Both Yusukes avoided it.  
But neither could run forever. The prisom eventually hit one of them, grounded him, and slowly began to electricute him from the inside.At that moment, I leaped upward, aimed the tip of my blade at his heart, and let gravity assist me in driving the reaver through his chest. I withdrew it from the dead body, and withdrew the bright turquoise soul. For some reason, it took the reaver longer to devour it, but not INCREDIBLY long. The remaining Yusuke watched in horror as his comrade's soul was devoured by the reaver, and disappearing from existence for all eternity.  
"It appears that blade of yours does more than just cut people to bits." He laughed. "Unfortunately, you didn't count on this."  
He rose his hand upward, and instantly, the dead body began to glow light blue. It lost its shape as it molded into a blob of blue light, and jumped into Yusuke's hand. Like the reaver, his hand seemed to devour the light blue energy, and fuel him for the rest of the battle.  
"Now then," He said, "I shall use the last of his spirit energy combined with my own to finish you!"  
He rose both hands upward, and placed his palms together. They began to glow light blue as a sphere began to form over his head. Frankly, I had never seen such an attack before, and something told me this one was going to be a blockbuster finish. Once he had gathered enough energy, he lowered his hands in my direction; still keeping them together as he did so.  
"This attack is so hard to master, the one person who created it never named it." He said. "However, I like to call this little baby the Armageddon ball. Why? You'll see. Armageddon ball, TAKE FLIGHT!"  
The ball freed itself from his hands, and floated upward. At first, it did nothing. Then suddenly, it began to launch beam after beam of spirit energy every which way; each beam exploding after making contact with something.  
"It may very well destroy both of us," Yusuke shouted, "But if I'm dying, I'm taking you with me!"  
He then lunged at me, and tried to knock me out. But I avoided the punch, let the reaver fade (seeing as how cutting him would do no good), and a simple fist fight began. Just then, however, one of the many beams that fired from his little Armageddon ball struck him down! Almost as if on cue, the ball slowly quit firing, and eventually faded.  
I looked over him as I called forth my symbiotic weapon.  
"Kuwabara was no help." I commented. "And Botan seemed more concerned with her appearance then where her master was. But you, my friend, provided me with the information I needed. Unfortunately, you're no longer useful. This'll hurt me a lot more than it'll hurt you!"  
"You really shouldn't talk." He said weakly. "It makes you sound stupid."  
Even with those bitter and cruel words hitting me, it still hurt me more to kill him than it hurt him to receive a blade through the heart. As I watched the reaver devour yet another soul, I could only imagine what awaited me next. Hiei was the only one left. But if I took that tunnel, maybe I wouldn't have to encounter him. Though it was a shame to have to kill a warrior with as much capability as Yusuke, though it was a shame that killing Botan was the only way to let her rest in peace after hiding under other people's skin for so long, and though. Well okay, Kuwabara's death I could live with, but Hiei was a true friend; even though he was kind of a jerk at the same time. If it weren't for him, I would never have gained the forlorn hope.  
I started down the tunnel Yusuke had pointed out to me. I had a feeling this wasn't going to be an easy quest. I hoped I wouldn't have to slaughter another of my dear friends just to get at the one I hated the most. However, if Hiei decided to do battle with me, I would have to do what I would have to do. 


	6. What Lerks in the Junghai Chamber

Hakusho Reaver  
  
Chapter 6- What Lerks in the Junghai Chamber  
  
"How long is this damn tunnel?!" I shouted, listening to the sound of my voice echo down the dark and dingy tunnel.  
Though it was probably shorter, I felt like I had been walking for hours! But something told me I'd end up encountering Hiei at any moment.  
"I swear, Taujecht is so going to pay for this." I muttered as I continued to move down the path. "This is really starting to become irritating."  
Just then, I stopped. At first, I thought it was a dead end, but upon further inspection, I could see a slit moving from the ceiling to the floor in a perfect line. It was obviously a doorway, but I didn't know where.  
But before I could do anything else, I noticed two monsters standing beside the doorway. Both were about nine feet high, dark green in skin color, and looked as if they were made of stone. At first, I thought they were just statues, but apparently, they were much much more than that. Once I saw their eyes glowing a dark purple, I knew for a fact these weren't statues.  
  
(STANDBILD- In English, it means "Statue". Though not very fast, these creatures are very loyal to their masters (assuming they have any) and can really pack a punch!)  
  
"FRIErEN!" The one on the left shouted. "Das junghai gemach ist verbieten."  
Great. I had to get my ass kicked by Taujecht on two occasions, I had to kill my own friends, and now I had to learn how to speak German! Or Russian. Or whatever that language of there's was!  
"Let me through!" I shouted.  
"Oh." The second statue said with a heavy German accent. "Your language is English."  
"Allow me to repeat." The other added with a similar accent. "The junghai chamber is strictly forbidden. You are not allowed to."  
"It's okay." A familiar voice echoed. "Let him in."  
The two statues nodded, and without so much as an argument, they pulled the door open! An emerald green light omitted from the chamber as I made my way inside. But as I entered, those two oversized lugs slammed the door shut! This was actually a good thing for me. No demons could get in, and Taujecht couldn't get out!  
Of course, upon further inspection of this area, I found there was nothing in this chamber. Nothing but weird green orbs that seemed to be plastered to the walls. And there I saw him. He was wearing the attire he wore from the first time I fought him, and currently in his weaker form.  
"You disappoint me, Kurama." He said. "I was expecting you to find me a lot sooner."  
"Just be grateful I showed up" I said. "I'll be honored to make your death as slow and painful as possible."  
He simply laughed at me as he began to consentrate his spirit energy. I knew what was coming, and that weird verse spoken in the demonic tongue only gave me an official idea of what was coming next.  
Once he had completed this strange ritual, he had transformed into his full red demon form.  
"Cute." I commented. "Now prepare to DIE!"  
I leaped upward, and got ready to strike him! But he blocked his face with his hand, and instantly, I felt myself freeze in mid air!  
"What the.? HEY!"  
"You really don't get it, do you." Taujecht laughed. He moved his hand away from his face, and I felt myself jerk ever so slightly closer to him. "I can sense you've grown stronger than before, and that blade for an arm may be quite effective, but your improved strength means nothing if you can't even touch me!"  
He made a fist with the hand he was currently holding up, and began to power up. I knew this attack oh too well, and unfortunately, I couldn't move out of the way.  
"looks like I'll have to show you my point once again." He said. "BIG ARM BOMBER!"  
His punch made contact with my chest as an explosion of green light forced me backwards, and slammed me into the wall! However, unlike last time, I could feel myself recovering much faster! I couldn't explain it, but the madder I got, the stronger I seemed to become.  
"Well, this is interesting." Taujecht said, sounding a bit shook up by this sight. "It appears my big arm bomber has next to no effect on you anymore. Good! I was sick of having to use such a weak attack to finish my opposition."  
"Weak attack?" I demanded. For a weak attack, his big arm bomber packed quite a punch.  
"Yes. It finished you off last time, and it finished off three eyes."  
"HIEI?"  
He burst out laughing. "Yes, that's his name. Hiei. Yes, he tried to use that jagon tie curse on me, but he never expected me to counter it, and use it against him. And the big arm bomber finished him off instantly!"  
YOU MONSTER!" I shouted. I made another lunge at him, and this time, he wasn't as quick on the get go. For with one slash of my reaver, I left a gash across his bare chest! He shouted in agony, backed away slowly as my intensity continued to build up. I don't know how I managed to move faster than usual, but somehow, my own anger and the motivational skills of the spirit of the reaver had something to do with it. As Taujecht got ready to attack, I beat him to the punch with six punches, and another cut across his belly! He covered his new wound with his left arm, and went to one knee; allowing me to smack him right in the headwith my fist! He fell flat on his back, and could only stare upward at me, and accept his fate.  
"What happened, Kurama?" He asked, sounding as if he weren't afraid. But his face told all. "You weren't that fast before. Perhaps you had more in you than I thought."  
I didn't reply, but he continued talking. "Well don't just stand there." He ordered. "Go ahead and kill me! After all, I beat you an inch away from your life, and forced you to kill three of your friends. Plus I ended up killing the other one FOR YOU! I don't deserve to live."  
I attempted to drive the blade of the reaver into his wounded chest, but for some reason, I couldn't! I wanted to, but an invisible force was keeping me from moving my arms!  
"Can't do it, can you?" he laughed.  
Instantly, one of his mighty fists shot upward, and smacked me in the jaw. I backed away, but was otherwise still able to stand. He quickly got to his feet, and delivered a powerful boot to my face! I then fell to my back, and was now left at his mercy.  
He rose his hand, and one of the many orbs on the wall floated upward. It then flew towards him, and landed in his hand. I watched as he then bit into the orb, and sucked the insides of it into his own body!  
As he did this, his wounds healed, and I could feel his spirit energy increasing! The sphere eventually lost it's glow, and became a pure glass orb with a bite taken out of it.  
"The outside is just empty calories," he said, "But the inside is pure soul. And with each soul I devour, I not only recover, but depending on the soul, I grow stronger! No matter how many times you wound me, I'll just grab an orb from the wall, and use it to my advantage!"  
I could feel him powering up for another attack.  
"Since I no longer have to hold back," he said, "Allow me to show you what I've been hiding."  
He rose his hand up in the air, and I felt myself rise up with it! I floated in the air, unable to move despite my attempts to resist. Just then, I saw him point all of his fingers on the hand he was holding up at me; his spirit energy increasing as he did so.  
"A little technique Yusuke showed me." He said. "Of course, since my spirit energy is much stronger than his, it should be that much more effective. SHOTGUN!"  
A powerful blast of green spirit energy shot from his hand, and hit me in the chest! I slammed against the wall so hard, I could've sworn I cracked it. Taujecht laughed as I suffered.  
"Face it Kurama, YOU'RE PITIFUL!" He shouted. "Nothing you can do. What the?"  
I started to stand, but I don't think that was what shocked him. The fact I was powering up for an attack of my own was probably what freaked him out. I consentrated my energy as I let the claws on my non-reaver hand extend.  
"Forgot about these little babies." I said. "And you're not the only one with spirit energy based attacks. BLADES OF TORMENT!"  
The blades of my claws began to glow scarlet as they shot from my hand, and buried themselves halfway into Taujecht's chest! He shouted in agony as they sank into his chest, but his shrieking only got louder as he was slowly electrocuted from both the outside and the inside.  
I was surprised myself. I didn't think I had any spirit energy attacks anymore. But apparently, my mutant form combined with the soul of the artifacts changed that for me. This new attack not only made Taujecht open pray, but it disabled his strange ability to throw people around with his mind. Or whatever that weird technique he was relying on was. However, I wasn't finished yet. I walked over to two of the nearest orbs on the wall, grabbed them both in one hand, and drove the tip of the reaver threw both of them.  
"NO!" He shouted, still in agony as the blades of torment continued to hurt him.  
"You're not the only one who can use these souls you know." I said.  
I pointed my fingers at him once again, and instantly, the blades of my claws withdrew from their spots on his chest. He went to his knees, and couldn't seem to stand up on his own. Once the blades reunited with my hand, I began to power up for an attack. Though the power up resulted in the reaver fading away for the moment, I still used it.  
"It worked for you with one orb." I shouted, still powering up. "Let's see if it works for me with two! SHOTGUN!"  
I fired a powerful beam of scarlet energy at the opponent, and managed to slam him against the wall. Once the light of my blast faded completely, I called forth the reaver, charged him, lunged forward, and plunged the blade of my symbiotic weapon into his heart. He shrieked in agony as he looked into my rage blinded eyes.  
"No! This. Can't. Be!" He choked out before dying completely.  
"Oh, but it is." I said, drawing the blade from his chest and allowing the reaver to devour the green sphere of a soul that came out with it.  
So my quest was finally over. The one I seaked revenge on was finally dead. But there was just one problem now. What was I going to do now?  
"Congratulations Kurama." A familiar voice echoed. "Unfortunately, this is the part where an ally turns traitor!"  
I saw the four foot high woman appear in the middle of the chamber. I then saw her raise her hand upward, and every single orb on the wall exploded into a beam of green spirit energy! Each beam entered her hand as she began to mutate, and grow to about eight feet high!  
Her skin was light blue, and her eyes were a firey yellow. Horns had appeared on the front of her head, making her look like a female devil. Her dress became a mini-skirt with the transformation, and her spirit energy seemed much much higher than before.  
"Taujecht is dead." She said, her voice sounding much more demonic and low toned than before. "Unfortunately, your battle is far from finished!" 


	7. One Last Battle

Hakusho Reaver  
  
Chapter 7- One last battle  
  
"Well now." I said. "The helper becomes the enemy. How predictable."  
"And I suppose you're more intelligent?" She laughed. "Frankly, if I were in your situation, I would've killed you hours ago. But that isn't what you did, and now you will fall mercy to Dijimora!"  
"Dijamora?!" I exclaimed. I was all too familiar with that name. Dijamora was a legendary devourer of souls. She was also an allusive shape shifter with many different forms. She could transform into various demons, she could mix and match traits of demons to create new ones, she even had a few demon forms that don't even have names yet! The only catch was that she could only shift into the forms of the souls she had devoured. How long ago she devoured the soul didn't matter, so she could use any form at any time despite how long it was since it was last used.  
"So you're Dijamora." I said. "Funny how a shape shifter like you wanted to help me."  
"It's a long story." She said. "I was out to conquer this world, but I showed up about a thousand years too late. For Taujecht already beat me to it! We did battle to see who was the better demon, and the winner would gain control of Earth. He beat me after he went from scronny green piece of crap to oversized red piece of crap. I survived the battle, but I knew that no matter how many souls I claimed, there would be no chance in hell of me defeating him. But of course, that was when I found you."  
She shifted from what I believed was her full demon form, and became the four foot high woman once again. Except now this little girl had red hair, and blue eyes rather than what was before.  
"So I raded King Yamma's vault, and took the artifacts of darkness." She said. "I knew the three artifacts had a power that not even Taujecht could fight. Unfortunately, theshadow sword was missing. Luckily, Taujecht's broken copy of the sword was a perfect substitute."  
"So basically, I've just been doing your dirty work." I said.  
"Exactly! And now, you're no longer useful to me." She returned to her demon form as she began to consentrate her spirit energy into her hands, causing them to mutate into spirit claws. Similar to Botan's, but about six or seven inches longer. Plus she used both hands.  
"You're soul, combined with all the others you've claimed, will increase my strength that much further." She declared. "But first, I have to tear it from your body!"  
She then took a swipe at me, but I moved to the left, and called forth the reaver. She swiped at me again, but this time, I struck her glowing claw like hand with the blade. Instantly, two of the bladed fingers were severed from her hand, and taken into the reaver! She screamed in pain as her hands went back to normal; revealing her index and middle finger were missing!  
"You little bitch!" She shouted.  
"Ah, what's the matter?" I laughed. "Break a nail?!"  
She glared at me as she began to mutate into a new demon. When the mutation was complete, she looked much like those weird looking bat creatures that I encountered when I fought with Yusuke. Except this one was bright yellow, wore a mini-skirt, and had the horns from her original form.  
She lunged at me, and moved too fast for me to use the reaver on her. So I was tackled, forced to the ground, and left staring up at her. She acted like she was getting ready to punch me in the face, but seemed to be powering up instead. But before she could do whatever she was going to do, I let the claws on my non-reaver hand extend to their full length, and I swiped at her. She saw it coming, jumped upward, and in mid air began to transform into another form.  
When the transformation was complete, she now had wings, and was seven feet high! Her skin was green, and the devil horns had faded. But her ears were pointy enough to take their place. And most importantly of all, she now had FOUR ARMS!  
She looked down at me, and let out a high pitched shriek as fire shot from her mouth. I avoided the fire stream, and watched her land just a few feet in front of me.  
"Looks like I'll have to work for my meal." She said, her voice now sounding more like a hiss than a normal demon. "In that case, let's see you avoid this one."  
She spat a small amount of fire on her hand, and held her arm up in the air. The fire surrounded her entire hand, and then eventually became a sphere.  
"It's a little variation on an attack I saw the great Yuromeshi use." She said. "Except this version is equal to about seven of those. PRISOM OF FIRE!"  
She threw the ball at me, but I avoided it. However, when the ball rebounded, it split into ten different prisoms that scattered every which way! And each time one struck the wall, it divided, and became ten different versions of itself!  
"You can't avoid a prisom of torment forever." Dijamora laughed. "And this version takes you out that much quicker!"  
Just then, an idea came to me. I leaped upward, landed in front of her with at least fifteen prisoms following me, and leaped upward. Before she realized what just happened, the prisoms struck her. She began to shriek in agony as the other prisoms froze dead in their tracks, and flew right in her general direction! Each prisom that hit her increased her agony. It hurt me just watching!  
She eventually gave in to the pain, and fell face down on the ground.  
  
"And that takes care of you." I said.  
"Does it?" Her voice rang.  
I watched in amazement as a slit started to form on her back; cutting her in half lengthwise. Suddenly, a blue four foot high human figure with wings shot from the body, flew upward, landed on the other side of the chamber, and morphed into a human about my size. She had blonde hair, sinister green eyes, and still wore the exact same skirt!  
I then watched in amazement as the dead version of herself began to glow, and float upward. She rose her hand upward, but for some reason, I pointed my reaver at it. It started heading in her direction, but then went straight for the reaver; impaling itself upon it, and allowing my symbiotic blade to devour it!  
"NO!" She shouted. "My dragoneri soul!"  
"It's mine now." I declared, pointing my extended claws at her. "I'm very familiar with the prisom of torment. But are you familiar with this attack? BLADES OF TORMENT!"  
The claws shot from my hand, and moved too fast for her to avoid. They buried themselves in her shoulder, and began to electricute her!  
She started to scream, but then began laughing as the electricity from my claws went to her hands.  
"Your attack is pretty impressive." She laughed, aiming her glowing hands at me. "I'm sure Taujecht either had no idea how to counter, or perhaps he was too weak to try. But I'm not! CIRCLES OF LIGHTNING!"  
She threw her hands forward, and baseball sized spheres of energy shot from them! I avoided both, and it was probably a good thing. The thought of being destroyed by my own attack was embarrassing, but it was a possibility. Dijamora had about as many attacks as she had forms; not to mention counters. Once my claws had withdrawn themselves from her shoulder, and reconnected to my hand, I could see her changing yet again.  
Her head became that of a rhino, and her body became large and muscular. Her arms were probably as thick as trees, and her skin looked as tough as metal. She grew to about six feet, and glared at me with those blood red eyes that developed last.  
"Don't you get it yet?" She roared, her voice now much much deeper than any of her other forms had done to it. "You're attacks are useless! And you should be honored. This happens to be one of my favorite forms. The Rynokari is a very rare demon, and has mastered both incredible strength and incredible speed!"  
"She charged at me, but I moved to the left. She slammed head on into the wall, but quickly recovered. She took a swing at me, but I blocked it with my reaver. She quickly brought her hand back, and saw the small cut I had made on her knuckles.  
"All those souls, and you still don't have one of your own." I said.  
"You should talk." She replied. "I'm not the one who killed my friends just to get this far. Not to mention all those helpless humans back in the forest."  
"Even if I did kill them, I honored them by putting their tormented souls at peace. You, my friend, simply stole souls for your own benefit!"  
"ENOUGH!"  
She took another swing at me, but this time, I severed her fist! She roared in pain as dark purple blood went everywhere.  
"You little fuck!" She screamed.  
She tried to charge me once again, but I moved out of the way once again. And before she could recover, I drove the reaver through her back!  
"Too bad." I said as she suffered. "Looks like all that trash talk went to waste."  
It took her forever to die, but she finally passed out. I withdrew the blade of the reaver, and found a multi-colored sphere that appeared to be twice my size! I was amazed at how large it was, and how light it felt. It took equally as long for her to die as it took for my reaver to devour this soul. But once it was devoured, I felt my strength increase dramatically. This new found strength would've really given me a boost in my battle with Taujecht if he wasn't dead already.  
So it was official. My quest was over. Unfortunately, I was stuck with this reaver that craved to feed off of human souls. I had no chance of regaining my friends, no chance of becoming human, and until I saw those two giant statues open the doorway, I didn't think I was going to get out of here.  
Is this a happy ending? I doubt it. For even though my quest was completed, I was still stuck as a soul sucking beast. And there's nothing I can do about it. 


End file.
